The Life and Legends: The Gladiator
|followed by= }} The Life and Legends: The Gladiator is an anthology written by D. Isaac Thomas himself. It was released on 2 November, 2016. Synopsis Beginnings The book opens with details of Roger Black's early life. As the description explains, he was born into a very old, wealthy and gentry family, and raised in the lap of luxury at the family estate, a magnificent mansion in Edgewater which had been in his family’s possession for many centuries. From a very young age, Roger was taught that he was special: Firstly as a mutant, and secondly as Black, whose family name alone commanded respect due to the considerable influence in the government due to their substantial wealth, leadership of New York City going back three generations, and social standing in the community in general. As such, his father, who was known to possess many of the qualities that have distinguished so many of Roger’s ancestors, taught his son about the prudence of maintaining an appearance of respectability to preserve their status of prominence among their kind, as well as the importance of retaining the goodwill of the ruling class from which the family could benefit. Taught to take great pride in his heritage, Roger was encouraged to mainly associate himself with the mutant children of other wealthy families who shared their cast-iron belief in the inherent superiority of powers. Roger begins attending Indian River Elementary School in 1983, where he does not get along with the other students. At one point, he sends Ian a threatening note for continually pinching his arms. Following this, he hears a girl mentioning a boy named Jaden talking to turtles. Roger chooses not to get involved. Superhero School In 1985, at the age of seven, he discovered the exceptional reality about who he was. An email had arrived to his mother, addressed to him from a place called Superhero School. His mother told him of the message. Roger was not surprised — he had wanted to believe that he was special, different from everyone at his school. The following day, at midnight, Roger's mother woke him, beckoning him into the living room. There, he was surprised to find a woman named Ruby Wright waiting for him. Wright explained to Roger that he was a mutant, what she had revealed to his parents, and that he was to be sent to Superhero School. Ruby took Roger to Ed's Motel, where the two spent the remainder of the night. After purchasing school supplies from the mutant street Merchant Alley, Roger boards the Great Bus. From there, he began attending Superhero School. He quickly became best friends with an adult named Mykew Hadeline, who has returned because of her parents, and the extremely tenacious Sean. In 1996 he became a member of the Fencing Club and is ranked number two on the Club's top-ten duelists list (behind Jamboga Pine). Over time, Roger gathers to himself a gang of thugs, a motley composition of ambitious, weak, and thuggish students (as Master Intelligence later describes them). Most of these individuals will become the first Knights of Plague. Roger claims they are his friends. He often manipulates them into committing petty crimes and other misdeeds, but none of these incidents are reliably traced back to the group. During his school career, he does a very good job academically and displays above-average intelligence and ability, and his skills in history even earn him the recognition of Sanders, who approaches him and issues an invitation for him into a group called the Sanders Club. Roger is initially confused as to what it is, so Sanders explains that his club consists of specially-selected students, who, like Roger himself, show true promise. Upon learning this, Roger agrees to join. Roger warmly welcomes Sean and Mykew Hadeline into the fold, as they are all close friends. After Superhero School After graduating from Superhero School in 1995, Roger disappears for ten long years. He slips deeper into the Darkness, travels extensively, consorts with disreputable people, begins to become distorted in appearance and loses his handsomeness due to immersing so far in the Darkness, and begins to use the alias “the Gladiator” openly. The Gladiator leads the forces of the NoHead Empire against the revolting Martians, searching for an officer that the Gladiator had sensed. After finding and murdering the officer, the Gladiator discovers her mutant son (young Abalan), choosing him as his apprentice. In the aftermath of Mars’ fall and subjugation, the Gladiator spirits Abalan to a hidden location on the Wasp. Transylvania Quarters Ten years after his disappearance, the Gladiator befriends a wealthy, elderly woman named Harriet Swenson. Harriet shows the Gladiator her home, Swenson Quarters. The Gladiator’s eyes flash red with greed and avarice upon seeing this place and he desires to live there, because he saw the building to be rightfully his after Harriet’s ancestors stole the mansion from his own. In order to steal this building for himself, the Gladiator killed Harriet. After scouting his family’s old home, he realized there was only one room even he could not access by any means - the Hall of Domination. To cover his tracks, he implants another false memory into an innocent bystander — Eli, Harriet’s butler. Eli admits to accidentally putting poison into Harriet’s cocoa, which is believed, as Eli is elderly himself. Meanwhile, the Gladiator took up residence in Swenson Quarters, renaming it Transylvania Quarters. He also learned, much to his shock and horror, that all the early Knights of Plague had been arrested and detained together on the third floor. Ascension The Gladiator, as he was now exclusively called, spent the next fourteen years before the Battle of Transylvania gathering followers in mutants who called themselves, collectively, the Knights of Plague. Some were supportive of his cause to dominate Muggles; while others were greedy for domination, wealth and fame; and yet others joined the Dark Lord out of fear. The Gladiator only valued them for their usefulness to him. They freely committed murder mercilessly and indiscriminately. The Gladiator was given major assistance by the ghost of Annabeth, who could still appear in a completely corporeal form, in doing this. In the mix, the Gladiator greatly enhances his skills in mind control and possession, to the point that he becomes known to some as the greatest mind reader in the world. Genocide in Ecaudor Aside from teaching Abalan the ways of the dark side, the Gladiator performed several tasks for the Emperor, and became something of a chief enforcer — responsibilities that included the military enforcement of the New Order on rebellious countries in the NoHead Empire. As a commander, he demanded loyalty and competence from all of his subordinates, though he kept losing them to Hell Burnbottom, who had a habit of murdering the incompetent. Those who could pass the Gladiator's expectations were rewarded with elevation in rank. One such officer was Captain Laleh Clipso, a young woman who graduated at the top of her class as the youngest cadet from the Imperial Academy in South Carolina. Impressed by her record as a highly skilled N pilot, the Gladiator promoted Clipso as the leader of his Black Eight Squadron. The Gladiator judges Captain Clipso to be a capable officer and pilot, but her concern for life convinces him that she lacks ruthlessness, a trait that the Gladiator expects in everyone who serves under him. During the Bombing of Ecuador, he senses Clipso’s hesitation when he ordered her to conduct a full-scale bombing run that would have resulted in the genocide of the country’s defeated inhabitants. Ignoring the Captain’s disapproval, the Gladiator redirected her to target the built-in reactor. Clipso complies, believing that single precision strike is preferable to blanket bombing. However, she had been unaware at the time that the damaged reactor would contaminate the world’s atmosphere with pollutants, which then resulted in the complete sterilization of all life in Ecuador, as the Gladiator intended when he altered his order. In the months that follow after the destruction of Ecuador, the Gladiator removes Clipso as commander of the Black Eight Squadron and reassigns her as the eighth pilot of the Shadow Laser. The details of her new assignments were left unclear; the Gladiator only informed her of the ship’s advanced design in stealth technology, as well as its enigmatic owner. After providing her with the coordinates to the stealth vessel’s location in a secret hangar on the Wasp, the Gladiator sternly warned Clipso to keep her mission a secret and that the consequence of betraying his trust was execution. The apprentice's final tests Laleh Clipso's reassignment coincides with Abalan's progression through his trials to the point where the Gladiator acknowledges him as a NoHead apprentice for the first time. His power finally recognized, Abalan is dispatched by the Gladiator to eliminate several police who survived the First Police Purge. His first target is General Ronald Koda, who used a private militia. Abalan sets out with his pilot Laleh Clipso and robot WINDOW in order to track Koda down. This first level takes place on board a N-54-Fighter construction station in orbit around Australia. After defeating a large number of both militia and robots alike, Abalan finds the general, and defeats him in a fierce saber duel. However, as he is about to be executed, Koda predicts that the Gladiator won't always be Abalan's master, and that someday Koda will be instead. Abalan casts Koda out of the burning station and leaves, taking Koda's sword as proof of his defeat and apparent death. The Gladiator, still not convinced of Abalan's ability, turns him loose in the polluted Columbia, where he hunts down an insane police officer who has constructed an army of junk monsters and titans. Destroying these with his newfound lightning abilities and killing a large number of scavengers in the process, Abalan ascends an enormous junk tower to find the officer Casey Tartus talking to junk statues of the police council, saying he will defend them against this 'NoHead trash'. After defeating Casey Tartus, Abalan insists that he is ready to confront Mr. Stupid NoHead, but the Gladiator rejects this idea. Instead the Dark Lord orders his apprentice to undertake one final test before he can fulfill his 'destiny,' sending Abalan to hunt and kill former Police Council Member Rachel Bradley. This third test takes place on the world of Tsala, a gargantuan landscape dominated by enormous mushrooms, plants and the mouth of the oldest living gargoyle. After fighting his way past Tsalian natives trained by Master Rachel Bradley, Abalan makes his way past Beasts and the occasional shaman to the mouth of the gargoyle, making use of his newly discovered repulse abilities. There he encounters the officer in question and defeats both her, her Tsalian allies, and the gargoyle itself. Returning with another sword to add to his collection and Rachel Bradley's ominous final words 'The NoHeads... always betray one another, but you'll learn that soon enough' ringing in his ears, Abalan returns to the Wasp. The Gladiator tells him they will now face Mr. Stupid NoHead, who has just arrived. This turns out to be a trap, as it is quickly revealed that NoHead knows all about the Gladiator's 'secret apprentice.' The Emperor orders the Gladiator to kill the young NoHead to prove his right to live, the Gladiator apparently does so; after impaling Abalan on his sword, the Gladiator throws him around the room and then blasts him through a window into space. Apparently dead, Abalan's body is recovered by a medical robot shortly after the incident. Abalan awakens on board an enormous medical station which WINDOW has set on a collision course for the moon. The Gladiator instructs him to escape the facility and to begin building an army of dissidents and rebels to distract the Emperor's attention, and allow the two of them another opportunity to attack him by surprise. The Gladiator claims that this was his original plan all along, and that it was necessary so that he could avoid arousing suspicion from Mr. Stupid NoHead's spies. Crafting a new plot Grudgingly accepting this, Abalan fights with EVO troopers who can resist his lightning based abilities and large heavy troopers resembling large robots, then escapes with his pilot Laleh for whom he is developing feelings against the advice of WINDOW. With the Gladiator's eye on him, Abalan goes to Manhattan where he encounters Master Ronald Koda, now blind after his near fatal battle. Together they escape, following an encounter with new, mutated, armored opponents. They resemble Imperial guards but with less cloak, more armor, and single sword blades mounted on Imperial guard-style staffs. After rescuing Master Koda, Abalan travels to Mars based on his information about an important contact in the Senate. Koda tells him that 'something very valuable' to his contact is being kept the red planet, but does not say what it is. After battling troopers through a large, well-defended building, Abalan is surprised to discover that the 'something' is none other than Roxanne, the best friend of Koda's contact Sheriff Bladepoint. Roxanne insists that she will only leave if he destroys the 'Skyhook' transportation project being constructed under slave labor first. Abalan murders the Imperial military leader of the encampment, a hunter of Martians, destroys the Skyhook facility and wins the freedom of the Martian nations. When Abalan found a valuable ally in Sheriff Bladepoint, Abalan was told that he needed a target to show that the Empire was vulnerable to those that silently opposed it. Seeking his master’s council, the Gladiator suggested that the Super Exterminator shipyard over Columbia, South America would be a perfect target, as the Empire’s rule through fear was embodied by the awesome might of the Super Exterminators. Although his apprentice remained loyal, the Gladiator could sense that Abalan was developing feelings for his supposed allies. He sternly reminded the apprentice of where his allegiance truly belonged, a statement which Abalan solemnly accepted. Afterward, the Gladiator informed the apprentice of the extent of his successful mission, claiming that Mr. Stupid NoHead was greatly displeased at the events in Columbia. Abalan advised that he could not maintain communications with the Gladiator for the time being, mainly so that the police would not suspect his identity or his past under the Gladiator, which could potentially undo all that he had accomplished in reforming the police. Although the Gladiator initially intended to betray NoHead with his apprentice at his side, for unknown reasons he later changed his mind and made other plans. He swiftly captured the police officers when they met and signed the Japanese Treaty in Japan. After revealing to the seemingly short-lived police officers that Abalan’s was the NoHead’s secret apprentice, the Gladiator once again assaulted his pupil, only this time with true lethal intent. Unable to bear a second betrayal, Abalan bitterly lamented that he had been played a fool once again, to which the Gladiator informed him that he never intended to destroy the Emperor — at least, not with Abalan at his side. It was then that the apprentice realized the truth; money, aircraft, Imperial lives, and even Abalan himself had no value to the Gladiator outside of their use in fulfilling his plans. Having lured the police officers into one place so they could be revealed and arrested, Abalan had outlived his usefulness. Just as he was on the verge of killing his apprentice, WINDOW, under the holographic guise of the Gladiator’s master Mr. Stupid NoHead, distracted him in a short duel. Although the Gladiator easily defeated the holobot, Abalan was gone, having fallen off the cliff outside the police site. Imperial Palace, where they will be presentee to the Emperor. Losing Abalan After a level on the Imperial Palace, Abalan confronts the Gladiator, as the captive officers and Mr. Stupid NoHead look on. The Gladiator is defeated, but not yet dead, when Mr. Stupid NoHead attacks General Koda; Abalan must then choose whether to kill his master the Gladiator or try to prevent the Emperor from killing the police officers. He interrupts the Emperor's attack, defeating but not killing the latter. Instead, as the officers escape, Abalan feigns death and escapes, never to see the Gladiator again. Seven years later, the Gladiator learns that Abalan had died fighting, so he rushes to the scene. Slowly approaching the body of Abalan, the Gladiator solemnly notes that the secret apprentice was truly dead this time. The Gladiator crushes Abalan's sword under his boot heel. Sighing, he Teleported back to Transylvania Quarters, but not before salvaging Abalan's corpse. During this time, the Gladiator openly used Transylvania Quarters as his home and concurrently seduces Becca Smith to the Darkness. Along with the snake Nagatha, who is implied to have been acquired recently, the Gladiator goes to Beta Prison. There, he blows open the entire third floor, releasing several mutants, many of which know him and are already loyal. Now he has many minions to do his bidding, and they become his followers, the Knights of Plague. Versus the S.M.S.B. The Gladiator is now after the aforementioned Orb of Power housed in the Hall of Domination, wanting to use its power for himself and perpetuate the Knights of Plague. The Gladiator’s first attempt at securing the orb was to have George possess government official Fredrick Stewart and send him to take the orb. During the autumn of 2041, he captured a Muggle named Alicia who tried to have their base destroyed, and killed her during a meeting at Transylvania Quarters with the Knights of Plague before feeding her to Nagatha. During this time, he learns from Becca that the orb was in the Hall of Domination, the aforementioned room they cannot breach. He also takes Monroe's sword after learning of the effects of Pitial Defilatelum. However, Fredrick was unable to get into the Hall of Domination. His next attempt was to possess a police officer named Russell Stewart. He was ordered to retrieve the orb, but was seriously injured in the process and was put into a permanent ward at NYC Hospital. Eventually, the Gladiator plans a full-scale attack on the MBH. His plan is to send Nagatha to find a breaking point, before he and his High Generals barged in, soon to be accompanied by the rest. Upon arrival, Nagatha proceeds inside, only to hurl out of a window several minutes later. The Gladiator realizes that she has not found an entry point, and orders a retreat. Shortly afterwards, the Gladiator resorts to sending Augustus Salt to the Hall of Domination. He injured Percy, who is guarding the orb, but is unable to acquire it himself. Afterwards, the Gladiator tries a different tactic — he used a telepathic link through Lindsay Kellerman to cause her to go there instead. Ending After speaking with Becca Smith and George via hologram, the Gladiator flies to Transylvania Quarters, where he meets up with the others, confident of their apparent victory. Twelve Knights assemble with their Master. Once Telekinibabe acquires the Orb of Power and gives it to Master Intelligence, the Gladiator ambushes them. The book adapts the imminent battle so it is from the Gladiator's perspective. A battle ending with the Orb's destruction and him being captured by Master Intelligence and Lindsay Kellerman. After the battle, the Gladiator is captured and taken to court. After the session ends, he is detained in the top cell of a prison he himself has built to hold his enemies. He is to remain there for life, with no chance of release. The book ends with a brief description of life in Negagard and the message: When you have incredible powers, you should use them to follow your own destiny, not someone else's. Someone who sees you as their slave and nothing more. After all, bad guys never win. New characters *Abalan *WINDOW *Laleh Clipso *Ronald Koda *Casey Tartus *X1 *X2 *Meridan Taran *Keeko *Allieano *Mara Bode *Unidentified tramp *Jaden Notes and references Category:The Life and Legends series Category:Canon Category:Released in 2016